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How to Wild Rift: Defensive Itemisation

The "How to" series is aimed at players who enjoy competitive gaming and are looking to improve their experience, whether through gameplay tips or advice. The information is provided at the time of publishing, and does not account for changes to the game or meta over a longer period of time.

Now that we've covered offensive items in League of Legends: Wild Rift, it's only natural that we cover DEFENSIVE items as well — You know, the items that help you stay alive.

Every item bought should have a purpose, and this is especially true for defensive items which are essential to helping you survive key team fights during the game.

How to Wild Rift: Defensive Itemisation (Images: Riot Games)
How to Wild Rift: Defensive Itemisation (Images: Riot Games)

Let's firstly cover the basics. In Wild Rift, there are two main sources of damage, magic damage (AP, ability power) and physical damage (AD, attack damage). These are countered by magic resist and armour respectively.

This means buying defensive items should be based on the type of champions in the enemy team, (more AD champions on the enemy team = build more armor etc).

Defensive items can be put into two categories, utility [U] and pure [P] defensive items.

Utility type defensive items are items that impact other players, other than just making yourself tankier. Examples include buying Thornmail to reduce enemy healing, or Protector's Vow to keep your carry safer.

Pure defensive items are bought for the sole purpose of getting tankier without much of an impactful secondary effect, such as buying Force of Nature vs magic damage champions.

A good mix of utility and pure type defensive items is always going to help you be more impactful as a tank in the game.

If you're a support, it's recommended to buy more utility items.

With that explained, let's talk more specifics about when you should buy certain items.

Playing against AD champions:

[U]

  • Frozen Heart - Versus multiple auto-attack based champions (like Irelia/Kai'sa etc)

  • Thornmail & Bramble Vest - Versus healing in the enemy team (Soraka/Nami etc)

  • Protector's Vow - Buy to protect your carry and give them more HP (VS assassins like Zed/Fizz)

  • Zeke's Convergence - Buy to increase the DPS of your carry (VS tanks and generally a good item to buy)

[P]

  • Randuin's Omen - Versus Champions that build critical strike items (like Infinity Edge/Solari Chargeblade etc).

  • Deadman's Plate - Buy when you need the movement speed to roam or chase enemies that have a lot of mobility (vs Ezreal/Corki etc)

Playing against AP Champions:

[U]

  • Abyssal Mask - Buy when you have multiple magic damage champions in your team (If you have a Ziggs/Orianna etc)

[P]

  • Spirit Visage - Buy when you have multiple healing sources in your team (If you're playing Olaf/or if you have a Soraka etc)

  • Force of Nature - Generally the best magic resist item for yourself

Situational Tank items:

[P]

  • Warmog's Armor - Versus heavy poke champions (Ziggs/Corki etc)

  • Winter's Approach - Buy when you are using a mana hungry champion that has crowd control (Gragas/Blitzcrank etc)

  • Guardian Angel – When you’re very fed/far ahead of the enemy (Playing Olaf and being 5/0 with a bounty on your head)

Damage type tank items:

[P]

  • Sterak's Gage & Death's Dance - For bruiser champions that want to do tons of damage and be somewhat tanky (Riven/Renekton/Irelia etc)

  • Iceborn Gauntlet - For mana hungry champions that can utilise the slow plus extra damage (Malphite/Gragas etc)

  • Sunfire Cape - A helpful item for tanks to easily clear minion waves + extra damage in fights. (Buy first if you plan to build full tank like on Garen/Gragas etc).

Remember, builds and itemisation should always be crafted based on the situation, a slightly different build can have a huge difference in game.

Every defensive tank/bruiser item has its own specific purpose, and there is no 'best build' applicable for every game. Buy each item according to what is optimal for each scenario.

Happy climbing in Wild Rift!

Glaceox is a Singaporean Wild Rift coach with five years of coaching experience spanning across League of Legends PC as well. He also streams and makes community guides for Wild Rift.

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